A slow night in the minors with just two teams in action.

Well, Lansing can rest their regulars for, oh, the next two or so months as they clinched the First Half Division Title in the Midwest League.

I’m 0-6 over my last two minor league updates, as the three affiliates in action all lost, with two of them being held to one run. The only bright spot came with New Hampshire’s offence, as Travis Snider continued to look good while Scott Campbell demonstrated that even when he isn’t getting hits, he’s still contributing and getting on base. Meanwhile, the Florida State League All-Star Game took place and three Dunedin players were in action.

Lansing were one out away from losing and falling into a tie for the division lead with two games left in their first half, but Kevin Ahrens came through in the ninth and the twelfth to help Lansing win.  New Hampshire won easily and this report features a first hand account of the game.  Syracuse were rained out and Dunedin had the day off.

I'm all out of clever, so here it is in plain, brutal honesty: The pitching stank in New Hampshire and wasn't very good in Dunedin either. The pitching was excellent in Lansing but the offence was disappointing.

Four losses, two starting pitchers were shelled, two pitched well.  Ricky Romero continued his spiral as he allowed seventeen baserunners in 5.2 innings.  Kyle Ginley didn't get an out in the second inning as he was hit hard.  Bill Murphy took the loss for the Chiefs in a parent club-like loss despite pitching well.  Gregg Zaun homered to account for the Chiefs only run.  Trystan Magnuson pitched well for Lansing but Chi-Hung Cheng took the loss.  Lansing is still two games ahead of two teams for the first half title with four games left.

The top two teams in the system had 33 hits between them but only one of them was a winner.  A ninth-inning collapse prevented a clean sweep for the affiliates.  Meantime, a prominent Jays reliever made his season debut at Knology Park in Dunedin.

John Parrish continues to pitch well and is a fine candidate to start for the Jays if an injury comes up. The affiliates were 1-2 on the night.

The affiliates finished one game from Saturday, didn't finish one that started today, and, all told, managed to win three of four.

After a miserable stretch of games for the parent club, the minor leagues provided no relief last night, as only rain prevented an 0-4 record on the day. As it was, the affiliates went 0-3 and our Double and Triple-A teams combined to score one run. The farm system hasn't won a game since Thursday. It was such a poor night that I gave two of the three stars to losing pitchers. If you’re hungry for more losses after the past four games for the Blue Jays, read on. It’s not as painful, but results are all the same.

Four losses.  Brandon League took the loss for the Chiefs in extra innings.  Vernon Wells and John McDonald had more than half of Dunedin's hits.  Lansing threw the game away and New Hampshire lost easily.

With the Jays sent to infuse the system with fresh wave of talent, thanks to the 2008 MLB Amateur Draft, two affiliates had very good nights.

John Parrish, Gus Chacin and Marc Rzepczynski delivered excellent starts and each team won.  New Hampshire were the victims of a perfect game for 7.1 innings and lost.  JP Arencibia had four RBI's.

A come-from-behind victory for New Hampshire and a fifth consecutive win for your first place Lansing Lugnuts highlight a .500 night on the farm.

After scoring 11 runs and losing by 6 on Sunday the Fishercats took no chances and scored 17 on Monday as the affiliates were a perfect 4-0 on the night.